Tonight was the first time we played a full session of the Hell for Leather Co-Op rules, so I thought I'd post the results.

There were three contestants, Li Jae Dong, the Cowardly Korean Fisherman (Daniel), Martina Mitchell, the Vain American Ex-wrestler (Susan) and Hank Summers, the Jealous American Blue Angel, retired (me).

Though horribly pc-unfriendly, Daniel chose "writes poetry about the Benevolent Leader" as Li Jae Dong's Quirk, and decided he was violently impelled by Kim Jon Il to volunteer for the show for the sake of his imprisoned family. Sweet.

Daniel suggested that the Objective be set in "the U.S. ambassador's mansion, Dublin," and everyone nodded. That's where we would end up attempting our daring escape at the end of the session. For the beginning, however, we chose "Piraeus Port, Athens" as the Drop-Off.

Before we launched into the game proper, everyone got a chance to narrate their Video Interview. This was the first time we'd used the Video Interview section, and boy was it funny. Imagine an ageing ex-wrestler woman/wine connoisseur trying to convince the Network to pick her for the most violent TV show in history. It was all the things you'd want from such a scene: awkward vanity, cheap nationalism and manly womanliness. Awesome.

Insulting Stereotypes

The game opened at Piraeus Port, and immediately the question was, how were we going to cancel the G-8? Ram President Sarkozy's yacht into Obama's pleasure barge, igniting international debate? You betcha.

Breaching the Swiss border was handled with panache. Martina got a taser in the face while trying to trick the border patrol, so Daniel committed a 3 Star Felony to compensate. Li Jae Dong disappeared from the car, only to resurface behind the guards with a huge gutting blade and a cheeky smile.

Finally we reached a military airfield in the alps, watched Li Jae Dong sneak through the gate on the back of a cheese delivery (sorry Switzerland), and then robbed a JZ-216 high altitude troop deployment jet (?). Of course, as Hank powered up the plane, the whole base erupted like an anthill. I partook of a delicious 3 Star Felony and rolled a Merit. In a matter of seconds there were three fully-grown adults brrrrr-buddda-budda-kabooming around the gaming table, gesturing wildly and grinning. It wasn't long before we landed with Swiss parachutes into the American ambassador's mansion (and yielded astonished accusations that the U.S. had been invaded by the French and the Swiss in the same day).

Storming the Network

In Hell for Leather, once you reach the Objective in the Co-Op rules, you get to decide whether to accept the requirements of the Network (and blow each other up in a gruesome blood bath) or do a volte-face and stick it to the man (running what is called "Storming the Network" in the rules). It didn't seem right, all of us turning against one another after all we'd been through, so we opted for the latter. A mistake?

The Heat stack gets set to five dice! Five dice! Jesus Fucking Christ! And every turn it gets increased by one. It's a killer. Literally.

We decided that we were going to steal the prize money from the Network and get the fuck out of Dublin. The Checkpoints were set as:

Within a few moments, with a load of shit rolls on all parts (the nerves get you pretty bad), Martina Mitchell met her death. Susan knocked over the Heat stack with a clumsy roll, and that was the beginning of the end. Susan described how she ran across the glass rooftop of the mansion's ballroom, cracked it with her manly physique, and plummeted to her death, speared first by a U.S. flagpole, and then guillotined by the falling shards of glass. Yuck.

For a little while, we pulled it back, as Li Jae Dong dispatched of the camera crew from the rooftop, secured us a van and drove hell-for-leather to the bank. Hank stepped out too soon (after knocking down the Heat stack at 9 dice), and straight away got a sniper shot to the face. His head popped like a melon. Ka-splat.

With only Daniel still in the game, the Heat was at 5 and he needed 5 successes. Li Jae Dong snuck into the bank, stole the money, shot a guy in the balls, fled to the port, robbed a fishing trawler, killed some Irish drunks and fled back to Korea to found his own private army. Somehow he managed it. He got the Heat up to 11. 11 little d6s, stacked on top of one another, wavering in the breeze, and he did it! Amazing.

Thoughts

This was the smoothest game of HfL we've run so far. The co-op rules are really solid, especially with the modified turn order. Looking forward to the Trinity playtest next Thursday.

Game started at 7.30pm and lasted 3 hours, finishing up just before 10.30pm.